14:1–15:20 Immediately after learning that the Lord was with Samson and that the Spirit began to stir in him (13:25), the reader is told that Samson sought a wife from among the Philistines (14:1–2). In this section, Samson’s prodigious strength, poetic abilities, and intense pride and temper are revealed. The narrative revolves around the pursuit and loss of the Philistine wife and the consequences for both Philistia and Samson. In the course of these events, Samson broke the Nazirite vow by touching a dead thing (14:8–9) and by drinking wine (v. 10). All that remained was for him to cut his hair. Three times the Spirit of the Lord came on him and he killed his enemies. He led Israel for twenty years (15:20). Normally this would be the end of the narrative. But Samson continued to be distracted by foreign women, and the story concludes with the narrative of his consequent demise (ch. 16).